William Pierce Continues To Spin In His Grave

Kevin Strom

When William Pierce died in 2002 his organization, the National Alliance (NA), went from being the county’s foremost neo-Nazi organization to being a group of splintered, bickering factions. One of the more comparatively well-organized of these post-NA groups was the National Vanguard (NV), led by Kevin Strom, a close friend of Pierce’s and the NA’s former resident “intellectual”. Strom quit the NV last year citing personal issues. His arrest this month on possession of child pornography charges deals yet another blow to the National Socialist cause in the U.S. While the white supremacist community is in general claiming Strom has been set up by the government (perhaps with the help of his shrewish, soon to be ex-wife Elisha Strom), anti-racist groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) point out Strom’s strong support of the pre-pubescent Nazi band Prussian Blue as well as his odd habit of holding up images of young white girls as being the ultimate example of “Aryan beauty”. It’s worth noting that while all of this makes for interesting gossip, it also shows the unfortunate habit the SPLC and other anti-racist groups have of attacking their adversary’s personal faults rather than directly challenging their political beliefs. Even if Strom does turn out to be a lover of young children, it doesn’t automatically make his political views incorrect. Perhaps the SPLC feels that addressing and refuting the arguments raised by people like Strom would only give them a legitimacy that they don’t deserve. But until the SPLC moves from personal attacks on their opponents to a point-by-point demolishing of their racist beliefs, it is hard to take these criticisms seriously on an intellectual level.

On a funny side note, the NV has posted a message on their website claiming that the arrest of their former leader is in fact a frame-up, and asking all white nationalists to support him. They also mention that if Strom is in fact guilty, he should be executed. Hmm. We’ll have to see if they stick to that stance if he ends up accepting a plea deal.